Trump Issues Snappy Response To Speaker’s Statement On What He ‘Inherited’

Just a day after House Speaker Paul Ryan withheld his endorsement of billionaire and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the businessman is apparently ready to set the record straight.

On Thursday, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Ryan said he was “not ready” to endorse Trump as the GOP nominee, adding that a lot of “fence mending” must first take place.

He needs to be congratulated for an enormous accomplishment, for winning now a plurality of delegates, and he’s on his way to winning a majority of delegates. But he also inherited something very special, that’s very special to a lot of us. This is the party of Lincoln, of Reagan, of Jack Kemp. And we don’t always nominate a Lincoln and a Reagan every four years, but we hope that our nominee aspires to be Lincoln- and Reagan-esque, that that person advances the principles of our party and appeals to a wide, vast majority of Americans.

Trump fired back directly at Ryan on Friday, posting on Facebook and Twitter that he didn’t inherit the GOP, he “won it” fair and square with the votes of millions of his supporters.

Paul Ryan said that I inherited something very special, the Republican Party. Wrong, I didn’t inherit it, I won it with millions of voters!

Dr. Ben Carson, a former GOP presidential candidate who now supports Trump, also weighed in on Ryan’s responsibility to get behind the billionaire as the party’s nominee. Carson, in an interview with Morning Joe, said there isn’t anyone else left to support and encouraged Ryan to put aside his personal differences and unite behind Trump.

“I hope Speaker Ryan and many others as time goes on will begin to understand and realize that we have to work together. … You don’t have another choice, so you get behind the choice that you have whether you personally like them or not,” Carson said.